


Sun, Surf, and Spite

by doridoripawaa



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Childhood Friends, Gen, Gender Dysphoria, Jealousy, LGBT, Nonbinary Character, Trans Male Character, beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:21:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25451584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doridoripawaa/pseuds/doridoripawaa
Summary: The Faerghus Four of childhood friends -- Felix, Sylvain, Ingrid, and Dimitri -- take a vacation to the beach after the war. Felix, however, finds himself struggling to enjoy their trip.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Ingrid Brandl Galatea & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Ingrid Brandl Galatea, Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Ingrid Brandl Galatea & Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17
Collections: Fire Emblem Trans Week 2020!





	Sun, Surf, and Spite

"How hard do you think I can throw this ball?"

Sylvain turned to look at his old friend, a scowling young man with navy blue hair. "Pardon?"

"Do you think I could knock someone out?" The young man narrowed his eyes and scrutinized the ball carefully, squeezing it between his palms as if to test its durability. He then raised his amber gaze out toward the sea, frowning as he watched other people frolicking and splashing among the waves.

Sylvain sighed and swatted the volleyball out of his companion's hands. "You aren't _actually_ going to launch a volleyball at the King of Faerghus, Felix," he replied calmly, although the lilt in his voice suggested that he was asking a question more than he was providing a statement of fact.

A soft red flush blossomed onto Felix's face. "I wasn't... Who said I was going to throw it at him?" He turned away from the redhead to focus his eyes on the ocean once again, watching as its waves lapped up softly onto the sandy shore.

"Your face said more than any words could," Sylvain murmured with a smirk. "If looks could kill, His Highness would have dropped dead... well, probably when we were kids." He chuckled and folded his arms behind his head. "You're doing it again," he added. "Glaring at Dimitri."

"I am not!" Felix insisted, and he whipped his head around to turn his burning bronze eyes onto Sylvain. "I don't give a rat's ass about _His Highness,_ " he sneered, clearly mocking Sylvain's use of the formal title.

"Of course." Sylvain sighed again and picked up the glass resting next to him in the sand. "That's why you've been scowling the entire time we've been here. It's a vacation, Felix. Try treating it like one."

Felix flopped onto his back on his beach towel, muttering something under his breath about a "nosy brat" and "the damn sunlight" and how "useless" this entire trip was. "I didn't ask to be trapped here with you idiots for an entire weekend," he grumbled, flipping over onto his side.

"Oh, woe is me!" Sylvain exclaimed, and he reached up to place a dramatic hand on his forehead. "I'm Felix, and I have people in my life who care about me! People who want to spend time with me! The horro-- ouch!"

Whizzing towards his face at an almost inhuman velocity was a volleyball. He managed to deflect it with his forearm, but the impact from the high-speed projectile had sent a throbbing pain racing through his entire arm. Pouting slightly, Sylvain raised his now red forearm up towards the sky, turning it back and forth to assess the damage. "That's going to bruise," he groaned. "Lighten up a little, Felix. I didn't mean to offend you."

Felix knelt over to pick the ball up off the ground. He brushed off the little particles of sand that had wedged their way into its seams. "You never _mean_ to do anything. It's just part of your nature. You're naturally offensive."

"Talk about the sword calling the lance sharp," Sylvain muttered. "You're one to talk. Now why don't you tell me what's bothering you, old chum?"

The blue-haired man snorted and sat back down on his towel. "Nothing is bothering me. I just wanted to test my ball-launching skills. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to put on more sunscreen, because if my skin burns during this vexatious vacation, I will never forgive any of you." He began to rummage around their knapsacks, looking for the proper lotion.

"Ah yes, we couldn't stand for you to lose your porcelain glow," Sylvain murmured in agreement. "Do you want help putting it on?"

"I've got it," Felix muttered. "The last thing I want is for you to rub your hands on my body."

Hurtful, but understandable. Sylvain glanced over as Felix began to massage the cream into his skin. A lot of scars crisscrossed over his arms and legs, shiny and tight against his pale complexion. As Felix reached up tenderly underneath his light cotton shirt to rub some sunscreen on his stomach, realization dawned on Sylvain, as if the sun had finally risen after a long night. His brown gaze flickered out to sea, where Dimitri and Ingrid were still splashing about, using long pieces of plywood as boards to support them as they rode on their stomachs across the waves. When Dimitri stood up from his (unsuccessful) trip on the latest wave, which had spit him onto the beach rather unforgivingly, the sunlight glistened and glittered off of his dripping body. Water droplets glittered in the sunbeams, illuminating his muscles, his scars, his blond hair, and every other little detail that Sylvain could notice. One scar in particular stood out to him amongst the rest, though: a long, thin scar that lined the bottom of his pectoral muscles.

The scar that fueled Felix's spite.

"You know," Sylvain began gently, "with Dimitri being king and all, he could easily arrange for--"

Felix cut him off abruptly. "I don't want anything from him." Sylvain expected his tone to be angrier, and he half-expected the volleyball to come flying towards him again, but Felix's voice was rather... flat. Resigned, even.

"That's your decision," Sylvain replied, "but I just figured I'd remind you."

Felix just put the sunscreen back in his bag without another word. "Sylvain, I--"

"Look! Look at this!"

Whatever it was that Felix wanted to say, Sylvain would never get the opportunity to know. At that moment, two eager fair-haired young folks came dashing up from the ocean, waving a shape that Sylvain could not discern in the glare of the sunlight. Was that a _fish_?

"Ingrid caught this with their bare hands!" Dimitri exclaimed, his eyes glittering with delight. "I knew they were a top-rank knight, but I never imagined that their skills extended to something like this!"

Ingrid puffed out their chest and raised the fish higher for all to see. "Of course," they declared. "As a top knight, I have precision, speed, and power that can apply to many aspects of life-- FELIX!" They screeched and jumped out of the way as a blur of white came flying towards their hand. "What in Sothis' name was that?"

"Just testing your precision, speed, and power," Felix explained coolly, "Miss Supreme Knight."

Ingrid frowned and kicked the volleyball back at him. "Ouch. I underestimated how hard that was," they grumbled, but then they turned back to narrow their eyes at Felix. "You know I don't like being called 'miss,'" they whispered, their voice as cold as ice.

Sylvain instinctively jumped to his feet and stood between the two of them. "He's just a little grouchy because it's hot," Sylvain began, hoping to diffuse the situation before it could escalate. "He didn't mean it, Ingrid."

"Oh, right. You were knighted with the title 'Sir,' but here you are strolling around in a bikini. It must be nice to feel that comfortable with your body," Felix snarled. "It must feel nice to be the favorite child. It must be nice to be able to do whatever the f--"

"It's a lot nicer than being bitter all the time!" Ingrid snapped back. "You've been sulking under the umbrella all day! You aren't even trying to have fun! Nobody is going to jump out of the sand dunes with a sword, Felix. Try to enjoy yourself for once."

Felix rolled his eyes and began to toss the volleyball up and down in front of his face. "Just go grill your fish, Ingrid," he grumbled. "We all know your stomach is bigger and brighter than my entire career."

"Nobody said that, Felix," Sylvain began, but he stepped back as soon as Dimitri walked up to Felix, his arms folded across his broad, scarred chest.

"Felix."

"Your Highness."

The tension hung heavily over the four, and Sylvain wouldn't have been surprised if a storm cloud rumbled into the sky, generated solely from the amounts of hot and cold air circulating around their group.

"Please just call me Dimitri. Today, I am not your king." Dimitri gestured towards Ingrid. "Today, they are not a knight." He then nodded at Sylvain. "Today, he is not a margrave. Today, you don't need to be a sword master. We're just friends, just former classmates, just citizens enjoying a day at the beach." He reached out his hand, and he smiled softly. "Felix. We want you to just be Felix."

Felix's face began to turn red again, and he turned his back to the crowd. " _Just Felix_ isn't any good," he muttered. " _Just Felix_ isn't the heir that Duke Rodrigue Fraldarius wanted. _Just Felix_ isn't the man that Glenn was. _Just Feli_ \--"

A warm pair of arms wrapped themselves around Felix's waist. A warm pair of hands rested on Felix's head. A warm fish smacked Felix in the behind.

" _Just Felix_ has always been the friend we have loved," Dimitri murmured. "Come on. Let's go hit the volleyball around."

Was Felix's sweat dripping into his eyes?

Sylvain, Ingrid, and Dimitri all stepped back to give Felix his space. He raised an arm to rub at his eyes. "Fine, but I'm going to kick all your asses," he insisted. 

Then he began to slide his shirt up and over his head. His lithe body shimmered in the sunlight, making his abdominal muscles shine. His binder was soaked with sweat already, but he didn't seem to mind. "I want the boar on my team," he went on. "This is one instance where you being a savage beast will actually come in handy." Dimitri didn't even seem offended by Felix's snark; he just seemed happy that Felix was actually feeling comfortable enough to spend the afternoon with them.

"You know," Sylvain began as they began to walk over to their makeshift net, "this never occurred to me before, but among the group of us, I guess I have the biggest d--"

"I will castrate you with my bare hands if you finish that sentence," Ingrid whispered, with a slow, calm, collected voice that suggested they would very much carry through with that threat. They began to squeeze their fish threateningly, as if to demonstrate.

"The biggest dimples," Sylvain finished, coughing slightly. "Maybe, uh, you three just don't smile enough."

They smiled plenty during the remainder of their day.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy FE Trans Week! This is for Day 7, a free day. I just really wanted to write about the Faerghus Four. ;w;


End file.
